WALLACE — Earlier this year, the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners began the task of looking for technology firms and website developers who would be interested in revitalizing and managing the county’s website.

On Wednesday, they made their decision to go with the Wallace based company, GravisTech.

“GravisTech provided the County with a client-friendly, Silver Valley-based proposal to modernize Shoshone County's website,” board chairman Mike Fitzgerald said. “The technology which the site is based is old and marginally serviceable. Our desire is to modify the existing website such that it is in-line with the times and provides a useful resource as the county moves into the future.”

The county commissioners reports that Shoshone County will pay GravisTech $3,932 to develop this new website and then train county employees on how to keep the website updated and current.

Of the five companies that the county commissioners solicited to handle this task, only three responded.

While GravisTech was the highest of the bids, the concept of spending money locally and the convenience of having them only a few blocks from the courthouse made sense for the board.

“Weighing the pros and cons, the (BOCC) acknowledged that GravisTech was a bit higher in price,” Fitzgerald said. “However, the higher price was offset by two items: a more inclusive approach to providing customer service during the website design and a desire to spend county funds locally in the Silver Valley.”

In August, when the county commissioners began their search, they were initially looking for someone who could potentially manage the entire technological infrastructure within the courthouse- but after seeing those numbers, the board took a smaller step.

“We have this huge need here,” Fitzgerald said during an August meeting with GravisTech. “You take what happens in the courthouse and what happens across the street at the jail. We just don’t have the skill set, we just don’t. We are elected officials that are put in charge and we really need help here.”

According to representatives from GravisTech, finding that person who can manage the technological infrastructure of the courthouse from top to bottom could run upwards of $90,000 per year.

On the website front, the existing website is in need of a major overhaul and the board is hoping to get that squared away as soon as possible.

“We are at a place where technology is becoming more important,” Fitzgerald said. “We have to get more efficient in the way we get information to the public. It’s time for us to get with the times.”